How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. (2 Samuel 7:22)
This study can not move any further until we discuss this verse. There is no possible way for us to truly love God, if we don’t first recognize that He alone is God. There is none besides Him.
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:5)
I want in on this! I want to be an overcomer! I want to overcome this world and it’s challenges. Are you in? Do you want to overcome the things of this world? The only way to do it is by making Jesus the Lord of your life. Hand over the keys to your pain, give Him the reins to your heart, and surrender your life to His purpose. I promise you that you will go much further in life with Jesus as Lord, than without Him.
Jesus wants to make Himself at home in your heart. He wants to be real to you. He wants you to know the power of God! He wants you to experience the love that can set you free!
Do you want to experience this freedom? You can only have freedom when you have Jesus as the Lord of your life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, AMP)
Have you noticed that the name of Jesus isn’t used as much as the name of God? I find in many conversations that I talk a lot about God and I hear a lot about Him. But the mention of Jesus is rare. Oh sure, I hear about Him and talk about Him during Easter and Christmas. Who doesn’t? But that name, that name that will cause every knee to bow… isn’t always on the tip of my tongue! Why is that?
Honestly, I think that Satan is trying to silence us because he knows the power that exists in the name of Jesus. He sees that power and it terrifies him.
Sometimes we see people cower from the name of Jesus, people disengage from conversation when we use His name, some people simply walk away, and still others are harsh when we talk about Jesus. The name of Jesus stirs up controversy. Have you seen it? I certainly have.
For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8, AMP)
Today, I have to be honest… the devotional I’m about to write tears my heart apart. It breaks me inside and causes my eyes to well up with tears. In fact, writing about it is difficult. I would love to gloss over it. I would love to pretend it doesn’t exist. But I can’t gloss over it and I can’t pretend it doesn’t exist. Even if acknowledging it hurts!
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2, MSG)